"Why? Why you do that?" Ortiz said. "I mean, for me personally, there's no place for any merchant to have that mentality in my city."

One Oakland resident who asked not to be identified said she feels the coffee shop is trying to protect some customers who may have had negative interactions with Oakland police.

"When you bring an armed and uniformed police officer into the community's safe places, just where we live, without taking that history into account, you're not taking into account PTSD," she said. "You're not taking into account that that triggers people."

Right or wrong, Oakland city council member Noel Gallo said what Hasta Muerte is legal.

"They're within their legal rights to do that, and certainly the legal folks have expressed that to me," Gallo said.